The convenience of no-bake fruit pies can’t be denied, but neither can their frequent shortcomings. Often they’re little more than a baked pie shell with fruit in a runny pool of syrup or they’re strawberries coated with a neon-red, artificial-tasting, cloyingly-sweet commercial glaze.
My mother used to make a no-bake strawberry pie that didn’t pool, but augmented corn starch with unflavored gelatin; I wanted to eliminate that so vegans and vegetarians could enjoy the pie too. I knew I’d have to think differently if I still wanted to serve a pie without a huge puddle on the plate so I looked to nature for help in the form of pectin, whose presence in fruit is both a thickening and gelling agent. It’s found in commercial jellies and jams, but they also contain high-fructose corn syrup, which is not acceptable.
Enter the fruit spread. Products such as Polaner All Fruit offer the power of pectin while being sweetened only by fruit and fruit juices.
Mom’s recipe also used too much sugar for today and even food coloring — there’s that neon! Now it’s still quick but streamlined and natural, with a filling that’s neither watery nor gelatin-firm but satisfyingly oozy.
The biggest challenge in my part of the country is finding strawberries that taste like strawberries or have any taste at all. I got lucky over the weekend, so it’s pie time. Usually I would use just strawberries, but I wanted to finish up last summer’s local blueberries, which were vacuum sealed and frozen. I let them thaw before combining with the strawberries; a dab of whipped cream makes a red, white and blue dessert ideal for Memorial Day or any other summertime holiday.
If you’re new to pie making, baking the shell empty is called blind baking and the process of pricking holes in the raw dough to prevent it from puffing up is called docking. A special tool called, no surprise, a docker is available but I use a fork, like most people. Blind-baked shells are usually lined with aluminum foil and weighted, but that’s really not necessary here. I use a high enough temperature that a well-docked shell barely has time to puff.
Ella’s No-Bake Strawberry Pie
Pastry for 1 9″ pie plate*
3/4 cup/5.25 oz sugar
2 TB corn starch (cornflour)
1/4 tsp salt
1 heaping TB strawberry fruit spread, such as Polaner
3/4 cup/6 oz water
2 pounds strawberries, rinsed, hulled and sliced
OR
1 pound strawberries and 8 – 12 ounces smaller berries
*I used the Classic Crisco Crust.
Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450F/230C/Gas 8.
Line the pie plate with the dough, crimp edges and dock sides and bottom. Bake 10 – 12 minutes, until edges are nicely browned. Move to a rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over almost-medium heat, combine the sugar, corn starch, salt, fruit spread and water, stirring from time to time until the fruit spread has melted and the sauce begins to simmer. Cook, stirring, about 5 minutes, until thickened and looks clear on a spoon. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, prepare the berries.
Scatter the berries in the cooled pie shell and spoon on the cooled sauce, taking care to get some on all the berries for a nice shine.
Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Top with whipped cream, if desired.
Related posts on From Scratch: Chill. And Other Pie Crust Tips Pie Making Tools
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Thanks for remembering the vegetarians. Looks delicious, easy, and healthy.
I think blackberries would be a nice addition, just as your picture shows. This has been copied to the ella’s recipes file. Many thanks.
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You’re most welcome. Gelatin’s a kosher issue too, now that I think of it, so all told its use really excludes a large part of the world’s population.
Blackberries! My very favorite, probably because I ate wild ones right from the bush when I was a kid. They rarely last long enough here to make it into baked goods. I just eat them like peanuts.
Good to see you blogging again, my friend.
Ooh, nice! Thanks for sharing a wonderful recipe. You know how I love the berries. I also like the idea of cutting the sugar back to a reasonable amount. Most recipes I find with sugar in them have WAY too much!
Happy Tuesday and I hope this finds you well! ♥
Hi, chick! Oh, yes, we were separated at birth when it comes to berries. This is very, very good and you know I don’t fib about that.
I hear you about the sugar. Did you know that with most old baking recipes, especially for cakes, that pre-date 1970 or so the sugar can be reduced by 25% without any problems? I’ve done it and as I work my way through some of my favorite oldies I grew up on, I’ll do it more.
Good to see you!
Even better to see YOU, Missy!
Yeah, I find that even with current recipes the sugar can be cut down by quite a large margin. It’s really crazy how much sugar some folks get used to consuming but to somebody who tries to watch their intake the same dishes come off as super, sickly, sweet. I can cut it way back and it is still plenty sweet.
Now I’m craving sweets! darn
I agree with you about so many recipes being sickly sweet; I was referring to the ability to reduce sugar without affecting the structure of, say, a cake. Baking is, after all, just chemistry.
But I’ve thought about the typical American palate and sweet is certainly part of it — salty is another major component. I think too many people, especially the young, are far too accustomed to washing down salty snacks with crap like Mountain Dew.
And the processed foods that are loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and other sugars make no sense. Americans’ taste buds are simply being denuded.
Yummmmm…what a great photo. Love your avatar photo too. G
Thanks..and thanks for stopping by! I’m so glad you clarified in the forum which blog it was and I hope it’s all straightened out now. If not, holler.
Once again you provide exactly what I need. I came home from our new farmers’ market today with a gallon of freshly picked, still warm from the sun blackberries! First I stuffed my face, then I came here to see what I could see.
The pie’s all done and looks terrific. We’ll see now if I can stand to wait until after dinner
Once this one’s gone, I’m going to try a mix of blackberries, freshly-picked local blueberries and strawberries. And then, I’ll find someone to invite over so I don’t do in two pies in three days!
I probably never mentioned – I lost my entire stash of frozen blueberries in Ike. I’ve been waiting…waiting…waiting… I’ve got more back in the freezer now!
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Happy to help and yours sounds delicious – if you want to take a photo of it, I’ll post your version too.
I love blackberries. Just bought a small container in case I need them for a cherry and blueberry pie I plan to make. I’m thinking of diverting some of the bluies to a favorite sorbet, so they’re on standby till I make up my mind. Otherwise, into my mouth like popcorn they will go. Wild blackberries are probably my favorite berry.
I’m glad you’ve got some bluies in the freezer again but I highly recommend Wyman’s Wild Blueberries (frozen) when your local stash is gone. Local is always better but these are wild from Maine and I use them year-round.